An Se-young exclusive: "If you think of it as pressure, it becomes pressure."
Having led the Republic of Korea to a stunning team gold at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, world champion An has her eye on the singles title and gold at Paris 2024
Badminton
In August, An Se-young defeated Carolina Marin in Copenhagen to become the Republic of Korea’s first badminton women’s singles world champion.
The 21-year-old had already reached the top of the world rankings, and justified her number one status in the Danish capital with consecutive victories over Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist Chen Yufei and Rio 2016 champion Marin.
Her rivalry with Yamaguchi Akane has been the highlight of the women’s season with An winning three of their five meetings in BWF World Tour finals.
Yamaguchi injured her right leg during the team competition at the 19th Asian Games leaving An a warm favourite for the singles title in Hangzhou.
She told Olympics.com ahead of those World Championships that she needed to win a major competition to “make a step forward” in her career.
And having won that world title, she is looking forward to replicating that success at the Asian Games and at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“I’m training like a champion to become a champion... to be able to see the big picture moving forward.” - An Se-young to Olympics.com
An Se-young: reaching the summit and staying there
An's rise to the top has been a swift one.
Aged 17, she won her first BWF World Tour title at the 2019 New Zealand Open thanks to a final victory over London 2012 gold medallist Li Xuerui.
In October, she defeated Marin in the final to take the Super 750 French Open and was subsequently named Most Promising Player of the Year by the BWF.
That rapid trajectory was derailed by the pandemic which wiped out most of 2020 and the first half of 2021 of the BWF World Tour.
An then went to her first Olympic Games where she suffered a quarter-final defeat to eventual gold medallist Chen.
But then she found her form. Having had to retire in the deciding game of the Denmark Open final against Yamaguchi, An soon exacted revenge on the Japanese to win the Indonesian Masters.
A week later, she defeated Ratchanok Intanon in the final of the 2021 Indonesian Open to claim her first Super 1000 crown.
That was a significant triumph for An who told Olympics.com that the 2013 world champion from Thaliand was a role model for her growing up.
“When I was young, I watched Intanon play quite a lot, and I’ve looked up to her ever since,” said An. “I’m really proud that I’m now becoming a role model for others. I need to keep up the good work and try harder to prepare myself for the difficult tasks ahead.”
An won three titles in 2022 but lost twice in finals to Yamaguchi, including at the All England Open. She also went down to her in the World Championship semi-finals with the Japanese going on to retain her title.
In 2023, she has been by far the best player on the circuit.
Ahead of the Asian Games, An has made 12 finals from 13 tournaments and won nine of them.
After her China Open success at the end of July, she reached the top of the world rankings for the first time before claiming the world title.
An told Olympics.com, “Obviously, I was really proud. I’d only dreamt of becoming world number one. But now I’ve reached that goal I’m a little bit under pressure and worried about staying there.
“That said, I’m thinking about keeping up the good work as a number one player and living up to the expectations.”
Those expectations have continued to grow in South Korea. And An led her country to victory over hosts People’s Republic of China in the final of the Asian Games team competition.
So how does she deal with the pressure of being her nation’s top player and biggest medal hope for Paris 2024?
“If you think of it as pressure, it becomes pressure,” she said. “I’d rather enjoy the spotlight on me. That’s why I always try to perform well and celebrate as much as possible so the Korean people can enjoy what I’m doing as well.
“If I give my all in every game I play, I think I’ll be able to reach my goals.”
Her goal in Paris is to emulate compatriot Bang Soo-hyun who won gold at Atlanta 1996.